James McCord, Jr. served in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for over 20 years but became a household name for his participation in the 1972 burglary of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. McCord's 1973 letter to the trial judge indicating that top officials in the White House of Richard M. Nixon were involved in the burglary broke the code of silence and led to the eventual conviction of numerous Nixon administration officials and the resignation of Nixon in August 1974.

A native of Texas, McCord attended Baylor University in Dallas. McCord served in the U.S. armed forces during World War II. In 1948 the Federal Bureau of Investigation hired McCord as a radio operator. In 1951 he left the bureau and joined the CIA, where he remained until 1970. McCord left the agency, where he had risen to chief of security, to join the White House staff. He served with a special unit attached to the White House, having to do with emergencies and contingency planning in case of war. In 1972 he resigned to become the security coordinator for Nixon's reelection campaign committee.

McCord was arrested for the June 17, 1972 burglary at the Watergate and convicted in early 1973. Trial judge John Sirica harshly sentenced McCord and told him he could receive a reduction in his sentence if he cooperated with investigators. In a letter to Sirica, McCord sought leniency by claiming the political pressures had been applied to the burglars not to reveal all they knew about their mission. He also wrote that administration officials had committed perjury and that higher-ups were involved. McCord's letter set off a wave of confessions by officials that led to a full-blown criminal investigation into the role of Nixon and White House officials in the scandal.